Culture, gender, and the self: Variations and impact of social comparison processes.

Abstract

Psychological differences between women and men, far from being invariant as a biological explanation would suggest, fluctuate in magnitude across cultures. Moreover, contrary to the implications of some theoretical perspectives, gender differences in personality, values, and emotions are not smaller, but larger, in American and European cultures, in which greater progress has been made toward gender equality. This research on gender differences in self-construals involving 950 participants from 5 nations/cultures (France, Belgium, the Netherlands, the United States, and Malaysia) illustrates how variations in social comparison processes across cultures can explain why gender differences are stronger in Western cultures. Gender differences in the self are a product of self-stereotyping, which occurs when between-gender social comparisons are made. These social comparisons are more likely, and exert a greater impact, in Western nations. Both correlational and experimental evidence supports this explanation.

Do social comparisons in academic settings relate to gender and academic self-confidence?

“…However, men were significantly more likely to make downwards comparisons than women and were more confident in speaking, numeracy and hard IT. It has been suggested that men and women engage in different social comparisons because of self-stereotyping (Guimond et al 2007). Therefore, the differences in academic confidence may stem from the stereotype that men are better at numeracy and IT than women, a stereotype that has been shown to be evident in girls as young as 9 (Steffens et al 2010).…”

Evolutionary psychology: A how-to guide.

“…Still others are scientific findings that do not yet have a compelling scientific explanation-for example, why people obey authorities who command them to deliver harmful electric shocks. And some are unexpected findings not predicted by any extant theory (e.g., psychological sex differences are typically larger in cultures with higher gender equality; Guimond et al, 2007; see also Schmitt, 2015). After observation, scientists conduct a reverse task analysis, asking what psychological adaptation may be responsible for producing that phenomenon and what adaptive problem that mechanism may be designed to solve.…”

Where are the Gender Differences? Male Priming Boosts Spatial Skills in Women

“…Gender differences in selfconstruals have also generally been shown to be stronger in Western cultures. This has been interpreted as a product of self-stereotyping, that occurs when between-gender social comparisons are made, which are more likely, and exert a greater impact in Western nations (Guimond et al 2007).…”